Field Trip! ISA’s Sign Manufacturing Day Everyone loves a good field trip. According to the International Sign Association (ISA), “Some 3,700 students of all ages visited sign, graphics, and visual communications companies as part of Sign Manufacturing Day 2017. The event is sponsored annually by the International Sign Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. This year, at least 68 locations opened their doors to students throughout the U.S. and Canada. DāNite Sign Company was one of them! Students from the Central Crossing High School, Grove City HS, Franklin Heights HS, Westland HS, and the Southwestern Career Academy got to tour DāNite’s 33,000 sq ft facility during Sign Manufacturing Day. They saw examples of the diverse variety in trades required for the production a single sign. From administrative and sales staff, estimators, graphic designers, engineers, metal fabricators, welders, electricians, painters, printers, crane operators, service techs, and helpers, it takes all sorts of skilled tradesmen and women. They work together towards a common goal of excellence to produce each and every sign. Many students claimed that the filed trip was an eye opening experience and expressed interest in pursuing a career in the sign industry. Mission accomplished! This Field Trip “Works” In a 2016 press release, Lori Anderson, ISA president and CEO states, “We’ve seen companies make hires as a direct result of participation in previous Sign Manufacturing Day events. This program, and the ongoing relationship that it affords participants to develop with local community colleges, technical schools and high schools, will go a long way toward addressing the challenge of finding skilled workers.” DāNite Sign Company can attest to that! Help Wanted...

You Can Please All of the People (Some of the Time) The true retro sign has become so highly desirable to signage clients, and municipalities alike, that it brings to mind a quote shared by John Lydgate and Abraham Lincoln: “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” In other words, it’s a special kind of success when you can actually please all of the people! In this case, a nod to the past seems to be just the ticket. Sign companies, of course, aim to please their clients while satisfying the local municipality with jurisdiction over zoning, a building department, historical review boards, area commissions, and the surrounding community at large. It becomes the sign company’s job to attempt to please all of the people, all of the time, and that’s a pretty big goal to shoot for consistently. It’s really nice to know when you’ve earned an enthusiastic and unanimous thumbs up, and the neon Village Wine & Bistro retro sign recently achieved that feat. The Village Wine & Bistro Retro Sign (Another Man’s Story to Tell) This sign’s story was graciously provided by the client via email to Mark Rubcich, the DāNite Sign Design Consultant who managed the project from start to finish. “We purchased the building in October of 2016 and we talked with many ” locals ” about the building history. As luck would have it met with Earl Cathers about 6 months ago… Earl and his wife...

We did it! We opted for a signage upgrade. Our signage upgrade was a great decision, but it’s not the first time. The DāNite highway sign has been through multiple upgrades over the years. Check out the short video at the end of this article! Why a Signage Upgrade is SO Important DāNite Sign Company advises clients to budget for an occasional signage upgrade or refresh every handful of years. Your sign is the face of your business, working 24/7 to grab the attention of paying customers. It says a lot about the character of your products and services. But when your sign looks rough, broken, dull, or outdated, it can scare customers away rather than draw them inside. As the recent article Sign Stats Matter states, quality business signage is crucial to business success, and “changing the design or enhancing the visibility of signage has a positive impact on sales.” Definition Please A signage upgrade could mean swapping out neon for energy saving LED. You could replace a manual reader board with an electronic message center, or replace an outdated message center with a brand new one. And don’t rule out updating your sign faces with a new company logo, changing out the faces on your channel letters, or taking an old sign from blasé to ooh-la-la with a fabulous new design. A good sign company will consult with you on how to get the best results and the most bang for your buck. What ever you decide to do, the commuters who pass by your sign every day will notice! Taking Our Own Advice Since DāNite’s “products and services”...

Sign Stats Matter We’ve assembled some telling sign statistics to share with you from Ketchum Global Research and Analytics by the University of Cincinnati. A picture may say a thousand words, but in this case the numbers tell a pretty compelling story too. What they are saying, loud and clear, is never underestimate the power of a great sign… or a bad one! “Nearly 76% of Consumers (8 of 10) said they have entered a store or business they had never visited before based simply on their sign.” A really great sign is a siren song, luring potential customers right out of their cars and off the streets. Step one in making a sale is often to get your client base inside your place of business. Advertising and marketing are powerful tools, but the most steadfast and consistent tool you have on your marketing tool belt is your business signage. A professional custom sign shop can help you maximize your curb appeal and fine-tune your siren song, determining the best possible way to present your branding to passers by. “Nearly 75% indicated that they had told others about a business simply based on its signage.” As every business owner knows, there is no better advertising than word of mouth. Often, this is earned though the offering of great products and customer service, but there is another way for word to spread like wildfire. You’ve heard the cautionary, never judge a book by its cover… This is because people DO. The image your business signage projects will draw people to you. If that image is strong enough it can even create a buzz before you...

…19…18…17… Today the clock is literally ticking, counting down the days between March 14th and April 3rd, the last day you can enter the “Take Your Best Shot” photo contest. After the ambient media campaign’s success last year, The South Campus Gateway reinstated their 150 sq ft branded basketball backboard on N High Street for March Madness 2017. The popular forced-perspective photo prop is intended to give the illusion of pedestrians dunking hoops, and pictures posted to any social media with the hashtag #HeyGateway are entered to win a pair of two-day tickets to the Buckeye Country Superfest to catch the likes of Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney in concert. Creativity counts though, so make it fun and convincing! But really, this year, the clock is ticking in more ways than one. This year the backboard has been upgraded to include a working LED shot clock! After managing this exciting and challenging sign project last year (see “Not Your Average Slam Dunk”), DāNite Sign Company’s Michael Cox, Sr. wanted to add a new and exciting element to the backboard that had been kept in storage since 2016. To be more accurate, the fabric backdrop, hoop, net, and giant styrofoam basket ball were safely kept at a UHAUL self storage space, but the backboard frame was too big to fit inside the storage space and had to sit behind DāNite’s manufacturing facility. This year, when the “sign” was re-installed, an LED shot clock was added above the 15′ x 10′ backboard in order to suggest the urgency of a real shot clock. Cox programmed the LED message center to continuously cycle backwards from thirty to zero in red...